Rail-joint.



J. R. KELLER.

RAIL JOINT. APPLIOATION rILnn JUNE 14, 1910.

970,236. i Patented sept. 13,1910.

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` Patented Sept. 13,1910.

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fum VW/'K4 1/ FUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. KELLER, OF IPITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

l RAIL-JOINT.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. KELLER, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rail-Joints, of which the followin' is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to rail joints, particularly to joints of the suspension type. As is well known to those skilled in the art, this particular type of joint, generally stated, embodies such construction `as is adapted to suspendingly unite the rail ends between two ties.

In joints of the suspension type, obviously, inherently the greater weaknesses are developed at the center of the joint, the point of juncture of the rails. At this point, the central part of the joint, therefore, the tendency, mainly, under operative stresses of traffic, is toward vertical deflection and buckling of the splice bars, downwardly and upwardl incident respectively to direct overhea loading of the joint and to the wave movement of the track. Present traffic with its increased loads tends toward ready development of these weaknesses in and consequently greatly reduce the life of 'oints which employ ordinary angle splice ars. And to meet these difficulties, various forms of joints have been devised but have failed by reason of the limitations of construction, and have been rendered undesirable, if not prohibitive, by reason of high cost of production. Attempts have been made to obviate vertical deflection of the joint, by the provision of bridge pieces and.

by providing the angle splice bars with truss members disposed below the rail bases. It has been found, however, that this lower reinforcing causes a reversion of the strains to the part of the joint which lies above the base flanges. The strains thus thrown to the top of the joint, place the upper portions of the splice bars under destructive tensile strains to meet which the bars have been reinforced by massing the metal at the center of the joint and above the base flanges. Such construction of the joint has been found objectionable, however', for the i reason that, to provide necessary reinforcement requires the placing of too much metal in the track above the rail base and furthermore the character of such reinforcement Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed .Tune 14, 1910.

Patented Sept. 13, 1910. Serial No. 566,719.

conduces to such rigidity as prevents necessary transmission of the wave movement of the rail, set up by the moving` train. These limitations of construction have given rise to the employment of splice bars constructed of high carbon steel. But while bars constructed of steel high in carbon offer comparatively great resistance to deflection and consequently permit of the formation of joints of moderate dimensions, their use has been rendered highly prohibitive by the cost of high carbon steel and the attending expense of the necessary manipulation peculiar thereto, by reason of its hardness, in the manufacture of splice bars, involving rolling, punching of the bolt holes, spike slotting, and shearing.

A further objection presents itself in splice bars of the under-truss type, mentioned above, namely: In suspended joints the common practice with reference to tie support is to provide a spacing of 10 or l2 inches for the ties. vWhere bars of standard length of 26 to 3G inches, are employed, and when it is considered that these bars are mainly cut from the continuous rolled shape, it will be apparent that to allow of the ends thereof to pass over or lie above the ties, requires shearing away of the lower portion or truss Harige of the bar at the ends for approximately two-thirds of the length of the bars with consequent waste of material and attending expense. This expense increases proportionately to the hardness of the steel employed, not alone by reason of the inherent value of the steel but because of the difficulty of shearing, incident to the hardness.

rThe primary object of this invention is to obviate the above mentioned difficulties by the provision of a. joint of such nature as effectually resists the vertical stresses both upward and downward, while still having such capacity to yielding as will take care of the wave movement and thereby maintain perfect surface of track. And it consists, generally stated, in the provision of splice bars adapted to be used in supplementary connection with ordinary angle splice bars, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

I will now describe my invention so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may understand and construct the same, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a rail joint embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective View of one form of supplemental splice bar which may be employed in my improved rail joint; Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken in the plane of line 3 3 of Fig. 1; and Figs. 4 and 5 are similar views showing modified forms of supplemental splice bars.

The abutting rail ends 2 and 3 have secured thereto at each side by the track bolts 4 the splice bars 5 having the upper rail head engaging faces 6 and base flanges 7. Supplemental splice bars, indicated by the numeral 8, are employed at each side of t-he joint and comprise the vertical portion 9 which lies against and is adapted to be bolted (preferably by means of the same track bolts 4 employed to secure the main splice bars to the rails) to the outer vertical face 10, and the base flange 11 which engages with the upper face of the base flange 7 of the main splice bar 5. Intermediate the cross ties a at each end of the joint, the flange 11 extends beyond the edge 12 of the base flange 7 of the main splice bar 5, as indicated by the numeral 13. This extension 13 carries the shoulder or horizontal face 13 which, when the bar is bolted in position, is adapted to underlyingly engage with the lower edge 12 of the main spiace bar. This shoulder 13 in engagement with the lower face 12, in coperation with flange 11 and vertical portion 9, serves to reinforce the flange 7 of the main splice bar. More particularly, the main strains delivered downwardly, incident to direct overhead loads will be resisted by the shoulder 13', while the flange 11 in direct engagement with the upper face of the flange 7, will resist reverted and other upward strains. And it will be noticed that this reinforcing is at the center of the joint or at the juncture of the rails, at which point the tendency is for the rail ends, under traffic, to pound on and deflect and buckle the splice bars. This central supporting amply reinforces the bars against this tendency to deflection without impairing in the angle splice bars, the natural capacity to yielding necessary to take care of the wave movement of the rails.

The extension 13 is preferably provided .with the cross sectional development 14 Vwhich serves to effectually reinforce the edge of the flange 11 carrying the shoulder 13', against deflection. To secure further stiffness the extension 13 may be provided with the depending flange portion 15 which, with the flange 11 and vertical portion 9, forms a truss construction admirably adapted to meet the severe vertical stresses transmitted to the supplemental bar. With the employment 0f this truss flange 15, the character of vthe concentration of the metal at 14 may be metal at this point 14 should be such as to secure proper lateral and vertical stiffness. Such latter construction is embodied in the supplemental bar shown in Fig. 5, the metal being massed at 14 in a manner to secure such stiffness.

The cross-sectional shape of the truss flange 15 may also vary to meet traffic and track conditions. For instance', such truss vflange may be projected inwardly as indicated by the numeral 14L in Fig. 4, where it is desirable to increase the stiffness of the joint by employing a deeper truss member without unduly extending the truss flange below the joint.

The supplemental splice bar is preferably of such length as to take the four intermediate track bolts 4, in which case only a slight shearing away of the metal at the ends is required to enable the flange 14 to project downwardly between the ties.

Many changes may be made in the construction shown without departing from my invention.

By means of the supplemental splice bars 8, deteriorated joints employing ordinary splice bars may be restored or restablished to original efhciency.

The supplemental bars may be applied without disturbing the oint, spacing of the ties, or the spiking.

In combination with the main splice bars, my improved splice bars present a light, single eflicient rail joint having the maximum amount of strength.

Other advantages, such as the character' of the supplemental splice bars being such as to permit of their being either readily rolled or cast, render my improved rail joint very desirable.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising a body portion having a shoulder adapted to underlie a bottom face of a main splice bar.

2. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising a body portion having a face overlying and a face underlying the base flange of an angle splice bar.

3. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising an upwardly eX- tending portion adapted to lie against the vertical outer face, and an angularly disposed flange portion having a shoulder adapted to abut against the bottom face of an angle splice bar.

4. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising an upwardly eX- tending flange portion, a depending truss flange portion, and an angular portion intermediate the two flanges.

5. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising an upwardly eX- tending flange portion, a depending truss flange portion, and an angular portion intermediate the two flanges, and provided with a cross-sectional enlargement adapted 'to lie adjacent the base flange of an angle splice bar.

6. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising an upwardly eX- tending portion adapted to lie against the vertical face, and an angularly disposed flange portion having a shoulder adapted to abut against a bottom face of| an angle splice bar, and having a cross-sectional enlargement adjacent the shoulder.

7. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising an upwardly eX- tending flange portion, a depending trussflange portion and an angular portion intermediate the two flanges, and provided with an intermediate shoulder adapted to underlie the base flange ofl an angle splice bar.

4 8. A supplemental splice bar of the character described, comprising an upwardly eX- tending flange portion, a depending trussflange portion and an angular portion intermediate the two flanges, and provided with an intermediate shoulder adapted to underlie the base flange of' an angle splice bar, the supplemental bar having a crosssectional enlargement adjacent the shoulder.

9. In a rail joint, the combination with the ends of the rails, of a splice bar at each side thereof, and provided with a lower face free from engagement with the rails, and a supplemental splice bar having a flange lying above and a flange lying below the plane oli' the rail base, and provided with a shoulder intermediate the two flanges and underlying the free lower face of' the main splice bar. A

10. In a rail joint, the combination with the ends of' the rails, of a splice bar at each side thereof and provided with a lower face free from engagement with the rails, and a supplemental splice bar having a flange lying above and a flange lying below the plane of the rail bases, and provided with a shoulder intermediate the two flanges and underlying the free lower face of the main splice bar; the bar adjacent the shoulder being of' greater cross-sectional thickness than the body thereof.

11. In a rail joint, the combination with the ends of the rails, of' a splice bar at each side thereof and having a base flange, and a supplemental splice bar having a shoulder underlying the flange of the main splice bar and being of' greater cross-sectional thickness adjacent the shoulder than the remainder of the body.

In testimony whereof, l have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN R. KELLER.

l/Vitnesses:

M. A. BARTH, J. F. WILL. 

